Bones of the Past (Villains' Code Book 2)

by Drew Hayes

  “As an inventor, I know too well that creating something is not the end of the process. There must also be testing. The world’s greatest watch that malfunctions after a drop of rain is, in truth, a terrible accessory. Testing, finding an experiment’s limits and working to break through them, is how you create something undeniably remarkable. This guild was forged out of necessity, and it has grown to best fit our goals and requirements. But until several months ago, we had yet to be truly tested.”

  Doctor Mechaniacal paused. Memories were bubbling up, some firsthand, some of video screens they’d watched: the guild, under assault from the AHC. Fighting the capes, and then Balaam’s troops. Not everyone had made it through when the dust had settled, but as a guild, they’d endured.

  “Balaam’s betrayal broke the code and the bonds of trust essential for this guild to function, but he also exposed a great many vulnerabilities in our prior systems. We have been tested, my brethren, and we have come out the other side stronger for it. There are a great many challenges facing us. The world now knows we exist, which will make working carefully all the more important. The Alliance of Heroic Champions must deal with us publicly now, and what form that will take has yet to be seen.”

  Hephaestus clocked several people in the crowd getting nervous at the mere mention of the AHC. Tough as this guild was, their opponents had quite a roster of powerful personnel as well.

  “But with those challenges, there is also opportunity. Living in the open allows us to play a more aggressive game, with bolder strategies. This island is one such example, and there will be more in the weeks to come. As operations resume and we begin our work anew, keep in mind what I said about testing and improvement. Because you do not test a new creation only once. You test it over and over again, until it can no longer meet the challenge or it has become perfected. We will face more trials. Whether or not we come out the other side depends on our strength, our wits, our determination. And it is for those reasons that I am worried no longer.”

  Another pause, but this one wasn’t to open old wounds. The setup had been deliberate, stoking their egos. If he weren’t a genius and a billionaire, Wade Wyatt would probably have had great career prospects as a public speaker.

  “To be a villain is to live outside the law, trusting in your own power above all else. Before me, I see the faces of so many who have made that choice, and then proved they had the mettle to withstand it. We are not a gang. We are not a syndicate. We are not a mafia. We are not any of the countless human institutions the capes have trampled over through the decades. Each and every one of you is a threat, a danger, on a level great enough that even the AHC is forced to acknowledge you. There are no disposable foot soldiers in this organization: only the sorts of people capes dread meeting in the core of their souls. Because you are strong enough to strike hard, smart enough to strike well, and wise enough to strike unseen. You are danger. You are deadly. You are villains.”

  Something like a murmur, yet closer to a hiss, rose from the crowd. There was a wicked gleam in many eyes and eye-like organs. He’d touched right on the core of their pride, the difference between themselves and the common rabble. Hephaestus could feel the sense of shared unity, even as a new member. She could only imagine how well this resonated with the older metas.

  “You are villains,” Doctor Mechaniacal repeated. “Together, we are more than that. We are the sorts of criminals who stay free and alive to enjoy the spoils of our enterprises. We can walk down the street as ordinary people, or slip on a mask and become rulers in the shadows. We have created a new way to exist, and it has endured its first true testing to emerge greater, stronger than before.”

  The metal suit stepped heavily to the center of the stage, effortlessly silencing the crowd once more as Doctor Mechaniacal surveyed the entire mass of people. It seemed like he somehow made time to look everyone in the eye, even if only for a split second.

  “It is with great pride, honor, and humility, that I officially reopen the Guild of Villainous Reformation!”

  He thrust a metal fist in the air, and on cue, the crowd began to cheer. Were Hephaestus not positioned near one of the hidden speakers, she might have missed the last two words that followed the declaration amidst the chorus of voices. Luckily, the words reached her ears, and she smiled inside her helmet, where no one could see.

  “Welcome home.”

  Chapter 14

  “I am not saying Apollo was right. I am merely stating that allowing them to reform as an organization is a mistake. We should put an end to it tonight, especially now that the public knows not every deceased villain really went in the ground.” Professor Quantum was standing, looking out one of the windows of the Champions’ Congress’ meeting room. Before him was Ridge City, twinkling in the evening light.

  His thoughts were not on the city itself, however. They were directed toward a country club on the edge of town, where dozens of criminal meta-humans were gathering to toast and celebrate themselves silly. He went on, “It is a tweak of the AHC’s nose every time they meet, let alone pull some secret job while we’re busy keeping the world safe.”

  “What’s your solution?” Lodestar tapped a single finger on the desk, strong enough to create a thud largely muffled by the floor’s carpet. “I drop down—which is trespassing, since we have neither warrants, invitations, nor do we believe the area to be in imminent danger. Maybe I lay down some threats and smack a few people around? Because now you can add harassment and assault to that list.”

  “No judge would believe some common crook over—”

  “First of all, if I did all those things, I’d most certainly own up to them in court,” Lodestar interrupted, killing that line of thinking in its tracks. “Secondly, even if one of our people with less integrity were to take on the role, the guild will have recordings, testimony, and a team of high-priced lawyers to frame it just right. Not to mention that after what Apollo pulled, they’ve got legal ammo to question the integrity of any investigation we pull that isn’t airtight. All of which is still dancing around the real issue: what do you want me to charge them with if we do go over and arrest everyone? All their old crimes are expunged, and unless you’ve been sitting on a treasure trove of evidence we don’t know about, I don’t have any new warrants to hand out. Quorum, you got any?”

  While he largely tried to stay out of his colleagues’ more passionate discussions, on this point, Quorum took the time to shake his head. Though a great many members of the AHC were uncomfortable knowing a cabal of villains was lurking around out there, ultimately, there was nothing to be done. Within the confines of the law, the AHC couldn’t go after them, and if they did, it would mean becoming criminals themselves. Perhaps, under different leadership, there could have been some talk of off-the-books operations, but not with Lodestar at the helm. By her own admission, Lodestar didn’t consider herself a servant of the law; however, she did respect it, and she set that standard for all the countless capes who admired her.

  “There are no secret evidence stashes on our end,” Lodestar concluded. “Look, Professor Quantum. I recognize that you’re agitated, but rather than discuss a guild that may or may not cause trouble down the line, why don’t we deal with the recent spike in street-level crime? Or maybe talk about how these random punks are turning up with extremely high-tech gear? Just this week there’s been a bomb, a robber with jet boots, and some fellow swinging around an energy-axe that cut through stone.”

  Thankfully, this was intriguing enough to draw Professor Quantum’s attention away from the guild—momentarily, if not for the evening as a whole. “Analysis of what you’ve brought in has yielded little. The devices lack Doctor Mechaniacal’s signature polish. He would never tarnish his brand by selling lower quality goods on any market. Of course, I haven’t been making them, so we can rule me out, too. In terms of the world’s major meta-minds, that leaves only Tyranny. Given that she runs a nation, this seems like rather small potatoes for her to bother with, and none of the t
ech lines up with her usual creations. Therefore, the good news is that none of the three smartest inventors in the world are likely behind this. The bad news is that our culprit isn’t as far behind us as I might like.”

  That statement caught both Lodestar and Quorum by surprise. It wasn’t quite right to say that Professor Quantum had an ego. The situation was more that he was truly brilliant and knew it. He had an accurate grasp of where his intellect ranked against the whole of humanity. The unexpected inverse of that, however, was that Professor Quantum was also willing to recognize the few others who could approach his level. If he suspected this new creator to even be in the same league as the three inventors he’d just listed, then this was a very serious issue indeed.

  “What we’ve seen have largely been basic, easy-to-find components, which renders them all but untraceable. In spite of their simplicity, every device has functioned perfectly, and from looking over the remains, some appear to have been constructed in some haste. For a person to turn everyday junk into this kind of technology requires an exceptional aptitude. Worse, I do not expect we have yet seen the true extent of their talents.”

  Lodestar kept listening, only now, it was her gaze that was darting to the window while she thought about a country club at the edge of the city. As a rule, and a philosophy, Lodestar liked to give people a chance. She believed there was good in almost everyone, that sometimes, all a person needed was the opportunity to prove it. But she’d also been doing this job for decades and had learned the dangers in ignoring a threat early on. What Professor Quantum was describing sure did seem to line up with what she’d learned about Ivan’s apprentice: able to turn junk into usable tech, someone they hadn’t already dealt with, hungry for income. Though surely someone with guild training would be too smart to try and open an underground black market in Ridge City, of all places.

  Still, she’d have to dig a little deeper into the mystery of Tori Rivas, just to be certain. Innocent civilians were at risk and counting on her. Lodestar couldn’t sit around, waiting for the criminals to reveal themselves. She needed to be out there, working to keep these people safe. After so many years away, it was the very least she owed them.

  No one partied quite like villains. When Doctor Mechaniacal’s speech ended, the stars began to change colors, turning into a slowly shifting rainbow as music replaced the leader’s voice. People rushed the various food and drink vendors, and with that, all semblance of control faded away. Yelling, drinking, carousing—and that was before powers got involved. Magical creatures were summoned, inspiring unicorn races along the beach, around which Johnny Three Dicks had a betting pool in moments. Not far from where the trees began in earnest, a giant ice cream sundae, easily the size of a house, suddenly appeared. A surprising number of people dove right into it like an emulsified pool, climbing their way up the frosty treat. When an impromptu parade began to form, Hephaestus decided to take her leave.

  She slipped away, not bothering to grab Bahamut, who was biting into a keg along with Arachno Bro in some sort of super-jaw/mandible version of a keg stand. Making her way back toward the volcano, she almost stopped to greet Xelas, who was chatting up a figure in dark purple robes, but stopped when she realized the mechanical woman appeared to be excitedly going on about the latest Captain Bullshit piece. Art, especially absurdist performance art, wasn’t a topic she felt like tackling tonight, so Hephaestus took a sharp turn at the last minute and continued her walk in solitude.

  That’s what she thought, anyway. Not long after beginning her ascent, a familiar form stepped up to her side. Maybe he’d teleported; maybe he’d been following her for a full hour while she’d taken in the festivities. With someone as powerful as Ivan, even in his aggressively bland Pseudonym costume, there were just too many options.

  “Since you’re calling it an early night, as expected, I wanted to see if you’d like to have a meeting.”

  “Depends. Is this Vendallia business, guild business, or personal?” The response might not actually change her answer, but it would change how Hephaestus approached the meeting in general.

  Pseudonym took a few steps to answer, lightly tapping his chin as they walked. “All of them, I suppose. The topic is your future, so it’s not really my place to say which area of your life would be most impacted.”

  “My future? Do I need to start on some kind of villain thesis or something? Because honestly, just kill me now. There’s a reason I didn’t stick it out in academia.”

  The quip got her a laugh, albeit a small one. From someone like Pseudonym, that basically counted as a guffaw. He shook his head, then pointed toward a different path that branched off from the one to the teleporter. “Does this seem like the kind of group that copes well with paperwork? Come on. I’ll show you up to the lodging and office area. Never know when you’ll need a place to hide out.”

  It could have been her imagination, but there seemed to be a touch of glibness in Pseudonym’s voice. Was he actually in a good mood? Well, why not? When Hephaestus thought about it, they should all be in good moods. The guild was reborn, grander than ever before. That might make the future more complicated, yet for tonight, it was cause to celebrate.

  They began to climb the path leading higher, though it kept a gentle slope to ensure easy walking. Although flying would have been easier, there was no rush. Especially once Pseudonym began speaking.

  “Earlier this week, you saw the reason I’m a villain.” He paused, reaching up to pull off his mask, his face shaded now by only the night’s shadows. Ivan looked at her hard, trying to meet her eyes through the helmet. After a moment, Hephaestus hit the eject button. Her whole body turned to living flame, bursting out of the suit in a blaze before reforming. She was still wearing a costume—the mask and outfit she donned under the meta-suit in case she was ever forced out—but outside the armor, costumed or not, she was Tori in her heart. Hephaestus was a coupling of creator and invention: in Tori’s esteem, anything less didn’t deserve the name.

  “I fight who I want, when I want. You can break my crimes down into a thousand different motivations and categories, but at the end of the day, that’s the part of me that will never fit into polite society. There are plenty of reasons I am this way, yet none of them matter. I am, and so I’ve had to build a life around that fact.”

  Ivan lifted a finger, pointing back toward the party. “Doctor Mechaniacal doesn’t respect laws. He views them as rules made by the powerful, and feels no obligation to obey the wishes of the tyrannical dead. Morgana will do quite literally unspeakable things to protect those she loves. Arcanicus values knowledge over everything, even if that means research into forbidden subjects or pilfering from someone else’s library. Everyone here is in this guild for a reason. I wanted you to start thinking about what yours is. Not why you joined the guild, mind you—that was survival, and we both know it. No, I want you to ponder what it is that makes you a villain. Find the core of you that will not mesh with mundane society and call it by name.”

  A lot of things rose to mind. Her lack of trust for traditional systems and organizations, her disregard for many laws, the smoldering anger that lived where memories of her parents should have dwelled—any of them could be called out. Tori didn’t offer up an immediate answer, however. This seemed more like the kind of task that was supposed to take some time.

  “Doesn’t sound like an impossible task, though I do have to ask: why?” Tori could still hear the yelling and cheers rising from the crowd. “I’m here. I am a villain. I passed the tests and made my choices. What’s the significance of knowing the reason?”

  “There are many purposes to knowing one’s self,” Ivan replied. “Being aware of what lines you can’t cross permits you to better focus on the ones you can. It helps to build the authenticity of your civilian persona. Of course, there’s also the obvious benefit that a weakness or habit you’re aware of is that much harder for an enemy to take advantage of. But the main reason I want you to figure this out is a simple one.”


  To her surprise, Ivan didn’t look down at the partying villains. Instead, his gaze turned skyward, to the colorful false stars. “When you know the kind of villain you are, you find a starting place to decide what kind of villain you want to be. We have the kind of freedom few people dare to even dream of, Tori. We can ignore most limitations, rules, laws, what have you. Think of how many restrictions the average human operates under—restrictions of society, wealth, their own bodies. What do you have to keep you in check?”

  “The code.” Tori knew it well. The guild’s code was how they managed to stay out of the AHC’s reach. To break it was to go against the entire guild, and to her knowledge, no one had survived those odds thus far. Now, though, thinking about it in light of Ivan’s words, Tori realized how truly minimal a document it really was compared to the entire tapestry of society’s limitations.

  “The code,” Ivan repeated. “Even living within it, you can take what you want, be what you want, live how you want. With your smarts and guild connections, it won’t take long before the minor, mundane hurdles you do have fall away. When that happens, when you truly see the endless opportunities stretched out before you, it helps to have some idea of how you want to use that freedom.”

  “Um, duh. I want to start a tech company.” Tori shot Ivan a sideways glance; he already knew that damn well.

  A short stare from Ivan was the initial reply before words finally followed. “You misunderstand. That’s Tori’s dream, the sort of career she wants.” Walking over to the meta-suit, still powered up and waiting for her return, he laid a single hand down carefully on its shoulder, feeling the metal cool in the night air.

  “I was asking about Hephaestus. Her future. Her goals. Her desires. I know Tori Rivas. Hephaestus is still new. Who she is, what kind of villain she is… those are things you have to decide.”